Sir, - The despair which seems to attend discussion of drug abuse among the young prompts me to suggest that the music industry could have a role to play in this area. It has been argued that certain forms of pop music have a lot to do with the glamorisation and acceptability of drugs amongst young people. If this is true, is it not time to encourage the music industry to examine the effects its performers and their products have on their young fans?
Pop groups could be encouraged to declare their opposition to drugs, through their music. Rock stars and music idols could promote an anti drug culture amongst their followers by publicly demonstrating their rejection of drugs at concerts and events that appeal so much to the young. The Live Aid efforts on behalf of famine relief could be successfully adapted to encourage young people to avoid initial experimentation with drugs and to use the proceeds from such events to benefit some of the better anti drug programmes.
Are there no high profile performers in rock music today who have the confidence openly to declare their opposition to drugs?
What about one of our Irish bands, groups or even individual performers taking a stand and setting an example for the rest of the music industry by declaring that their talents are truly theirs not the products of destructive stimulants?
If the music industry is unwilling to accept its responsibilities in this area, it may not be too difficult for the courts to attach specific conditions to the granting of licences for public performances by rock stars, or indeed any other entertainers. Were the courts to grant licences only to those concert promoters who were capable of controlling their events to the extent that drugtesting was the norm, and where performers who failed such tests were subjected to the full rigours of the law, one wonders what effect this could have on the behaviour of fans and performers?
Would such measures be welcomed by the police and by the local communities? Can anti drug, public order or public safety legislation not be invoked to prevent performers from appearing in public before thousands of their young and impressionable fans under the influence of illegal substances?
Sporting organisations worldwide have taken responsibility for regulating the activities of participants with random drug testing; can the same not at least be attempted by the music industry? An industry which has such huge influence on young people today, and which is making enormous profits from them, should take a close look at what it can do by way of self regulation, if only to protect its own interests before society forces change upon it.
Yours, etc.
Howth,
Co Dublin.